Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

According to legend, a monastery dedicated to the Virgin would have existed on the banks of the Loire as early as the seventh century, before being destroyed by the Barbarians. In the middle of the 11th century, the bishop of Auxerre and the count of Nevers entrusted Hugues, abbot of Cluny, with the foundation of a priory at La Charité-sur-Loire. This first clunisian priory, consecrated in 1107, became a major step on the road to Compostela, favoring the rise and fortification of the city around the monastery. The Wars of Religion and a fire in 1559 ravaged part of the buildings, accelerating its decline.

The major construction campaigns took place at the end of the 15th century (housing of the prior, porterie) and in the 17th and 18th centuries, according to the canons of monastic classicism. The regime of the beginning of the 16th century weakened the priory, already weakened by religious conflicts. The separation between spiritual and temporal domains, and then the French Revolution (1790), put an end to its activity: the buildings were seized and divided into private lots.

The church of St. Lawrence, integrated into the former prioral domain, today bears witness to this rich monastic past, between spiritual influence on pilgrimage routes and progressive decline from modern times. Its architecture combines Romanesque heritage, late Gothic reconstructions and classic additions, reflecting almost seven centuries of religious and local history.

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